I've never done a post before, so I don't know if I'm doing this right But I thought I'd try and ask the following question: What do any of interested people think of the current "Twilight Zone" series? Frankly, it seems to me that they need someone there to show them how to mix in music where it's needed, someone to find more realistic sound effects, and someone to teach these actors not to read, but act. Am I picky? When I thinkof what radio used to do and what we get now, it sometimes hurts.

I rather like the series. I especially like Stacy Keach as the host/narrator. He's not trying to imitate Rod Serling, but he does bring his own special gravitas to the part. That's something that has been sorely missing in the various TZ revivals over the years.

Radio drama is definitely becoming a lost art on this side "the pond", but it is still alive and well in the UK. The BBC continues to turn out excellent material on a regular basis.

I've never done a post before, so I don't know if I'm doing this right But I thought I'd try and ask the following question: What do any of interested people think of the current "Twilight Zone" series? Frankly, it seems to me that they need someone there to show them how to mix in music where it's needed, someone to find more realistic sound effects, and someone to teach these actors not to read, but act. Am I picky? When I thinkof what radio used to do and what we get now, it sometimes hurts.

I am a huge fan of the TV series, but I just could never really get into the radio series. There is just something about an "old" time radio show... Yes, it's good they tried and I hope people keep trying, but not at the expense of beloved classic radio or TV series. Boo to remakes / revisions in general.

I don't see how the Twilight Zone radio show is "at the expense of" anything, other than the time and effort it took to produce it and the time it takes one to listen to, if one so chooses. The original TV series still exists and is just as fantastic today as it was half a century ago, and the radio show is putting a new spin on those venerable old tales and it in no way detracts from the TV show upon which it is based. What it does potentially accomplish is to expose a new audience to this wonderful medium that has largely been forgotten in the U.S.

I also don't think a show necessarily has to be "old" to be good. Granted, the so-called "Golden Age of Radio" ended in the early '60s when Suspense went off the air, but CBSRMT brought the magic back more than a decade later and there have been some notable shows since then, albeit not as many as in the 1940s and '50s. Two that come immediately to mind for me are the Star Wars trilogy and Bradbury 13, both done by NPR in the '80s. The tradition continues even more strongly in the UK, where the BBC has an entire channel (BBC Radio Four) devoted to the spoken word. If you doubt the quality of their material, just take a listen to some of the James Bond shows I uploaded a few months ago.

Yes, writing and acting for radio is quite a different challenge than doing it for the screen--or even the live stage, for that matter--and it has been far too long since it was done on a regular basis in this country. It will only be with repetition, and lots of it, that today's writers, directors, producers, and actors will hone their chops for the unique challenges of radio. In that respect, TZ is both paying homage to the past and leading the way to the future.

The cool thing is that the Internet is creating a brand new venue for this time-honored medium. Not only are the old shows more accessible than ever before, thanks to sites like Mysteryshows.com and Archive.org, but there's new stuff being created just for Web audiences. There's a troupe of amateurs over at www.darkerprojects.com that's creating some really amazing original audio plays, some of which are based on the likes of Star Trek and Doctor Who, but much of their material is completely original. I highly recommend you give it a listen, if you haven't done so already.

Tombcreeper wrote:

I am a huge fan of the TV series, but I just could never really get into the radio series. There is just something about an "old" time radio show... Yes, it's good they tried and I hope people keep trying, but not at the expense of beloved classic radio or TV series. Boo to remakes / revisions in general.

I am a huge fan of the TV series, but I just could never really get into the radio series. There is just something about an "old" time radio show... Yes, it's good they tried and I hope people keep trying, but not at the expense of beloved classic radio or TV series. Boo to remakes / revisions in general.

I couldn't agree more. The TV series seems to make the radio show obsolete in a lot of ways.

That's not to say the radio series wasn't done well but it barely holds a candle to the tv show.

I've never done a post before, so I don't know if I'm doing this right But I thought I'd try and ask the following question: What do any of interested people think of the current "Twilight Zone" series? Frankly, it seems to me that they need someone there to show them how to mix in music where it's needed, someone to find more realistic sound effects, and someone to teach these actors not to read, but act. Am I picky? When I thinkof what radio used to do and what we get now, it sometimes hurts.

I've never done a post before, so I don't know if I'm doing this right But I thought I'd try and ask the following question: What do any of interested people think of the current "Twilight Zone" series? Frankly, it seems to me that they need someone there to show them how to mix in music where it's needed, someone to find more realistic sound effects, and someone to teach these actors not to read, but act. Am I picky? When I thinkof what radio used to do and what we get now, it sometimes hurts.

I had mixed feelings about the audio series when I first encountered it. I grew up in the 1960s watching Rod Serling's television series, so I was fairly well acquainted with it. I picked the first familiar title I saw and listened to it.

That wasn't a good idea. It was one of my favorite stories and I recalled it almost word for word. What I hadn't thought about was that the audio version was actually twice as long as the television version (why? don't know). This meant that the story had to be opened out, with new scenes and even new characters added to it. This was a bit distracting.

What I've decided since is that you might enjoy the episodes that you don't remember seeing on television more than the most famous scripts.

Try it and see what you think._________________tuned in from down under